September 3, 2008

Dear 7th & 8th Dr. Data Computer Class Parents:

"Stragtery for Saving Student Work"

Because we have a number workstations not connecting to the school server, some students can't save their daily work at all. Workstations will be fixed soon but the daily responsibilities of saving is a serious situation in giving students grades on their daily assignments. it is also impossible for students to save any file on their workstation because of school security precautions. So we need to implement an alternative solution.

Solution(s)

  1. Parents of 7th and 8th Grade Classes: please consider giving your child a blank floppy disk or an inexpensive (under $10.00) flash (thumb) drive so they can not only save their class work on these portable devices on a daily basis but can also bring their class work home as well to finish them as homework and resubmit to me the next school day.

  2. 8th Grade Classes: please bring your digital cameras or telephones with camera capabilities or photos all week to be scanned so that you can put them on your five business cards you created last week. Be sure to bring the appropriate USB cables to transfer files from your digital camera/phone to your computer workstation. If these cables are not available, students can e-mail themselves the photos as text messages on their cell phones. See Week 4 for details as we embrace multimedia capabilities with you inputting photos all week! Note: if your child doesn't have access to a digital camera or digital phone with still camera capabilities, your child could use their neighbor's equipment as most students have access to them.

  3. Important Special Offer: I believe it may be important for your child to have access to my 7th grade classes keyboarding software application for home use. Oddly enough, my 7th grade students tend to type better than my 8th grade students. Since all students will be tested every Friday beginning next week, it is important that their speed and accuracy be maximized since my grading system is not restricted to 100 points. See my grading scale at: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/typing.html. Outstanding students can earn far beyond 100 points on a 100 point test!

    Normally, I'd like my students to double and/or triple their present speed typing speed of words per minute by the end of the semester. If so, your child be a super typist forever and obtain great typing scores as indicated by my grading scale above. Unfortunately, some students will not practice beyond class time and consequently, their speeds do not change much. But I know it is possible to accomplish this double or triple speed improvement, especially if coordinate with typing practice at home between now and the end of school. It would also be possible for others in your family to benefit from this instructional CD-ROM. Especially if you have younger children who could also be exposed to it. Carmody Middle School has a site license for the software application, All the Right Type, for use in our school PC computer lab. This is a highly effective ‘learn to keyboard” program. Ingenuity Works, the publisher of All the Right Type, has a special arrangement that enables students and parents to purchase a home version of this program for a very reasonable reduced price. In order to participate, you need to download the forms yourself at http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/ATRT_Letter.html and return to Dr. Data ASAP.

    Please fill out the attached Student Bulk Order Form and returning it to me accompanied by a check in the amount of $23.00 (per program) by Friday, September 5, 2008. Be sure to include your child's name on the check. The check should be addressed to: Carmody Middle School. No cash please. These charges include:

    Important: the order will be cancelled unless a minimum of 10 orders are placed.

    If you would like to investigate more about this product, ask your child about this software application as there are using it class daily as well as visit the product's web site for more details at: http://www.ingenuityworks.com/iworks/main/products/all_the_right_type_3/

    Hope this information is helpful. This is the fourth year that we have offered this product to Carmody parents through our site license relationship and the results are amazing for students who practice daily at home. For example for one student who had a lot of difficulty in learning how to type, that child in one semester went from one word per minute to 32 words a minute. Usually, students who practice at home daily will easily double or triple their present typing speed by the end of the semester. And having the same program at home that we use in school is very helpful. An order form was given to your child last week. You can also download the forms yourself, please go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/carmody/ATRT_Letter.html and return to Dr. Data ASAP.

  4. Need to contact Dr. Data, please e-mail him at: jkuzmich@earthlink.net for quick response: morning, afternoon or evening and yes, even over Labor Day weekend.

Hope this helps and looking forward to a successful semester. Please stay in touch with Carmody's Parent Portal at https://campus.jeffco.k12.co.us/campus/portal/jeffco_IC.jsp which is your true reality check 24/7 for Dr. Data classes.

Till next time,

Dr. Data